Without Legends

Without Legends

1967 · 35 min · Documentary

In 1968 Herz Frank made Without Legends (Bez leģendām) at the Kuibishev studios, together with Aloizs Brenčs and Aleksandr Sazhin. The film is based on the memoirs of Hero of Socialist Labor Professor Ivan Vasilyevich Komzin, former head of construction of the V. I. Lenin Volga Hydroelectric Power Station; Hero of Socialist Labor excavator operator V. Klementyev; Honored excavator operator Viktor Vasilyevich Starikov; and writer Konstantin Kirillovich Lapin. Documentary filmmakers from Kuibyshev were making a film about the excavator operator and Hero of Socialist Labor, Boris Yegorovich Kovalenko. However, the material turned out to be too ambiguous to create a film about a model Soviet working man. They turned for advice to the Riga-based documentary filmmaker Herz Frank. He shot additional footage and edited the collected material in such a way that it became a story without legends—about an ordinary person.

Directed by Herz Frank

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235 000 000

235 000 000 · 1967

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In the 1966 the population of the Soviet Union was estimated at 235 million. A group of Latvian filmmakers traveled the length and breadth of the country to create a portrait of the diverse population.

Ten Minutes Older

Ten Minutes Older · 1978

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In this ten-minute documentary experiment, director Herz Frank films a group of children watching a puppet show, keeping the camera fixed on their faces in a single continuous shot. The performance itself remains unseen, while the children’s shifting expressions—fear, laughter, curiosity, and suspense—suggest the story unfolding before them as ten minutes of their lives quietly pass.

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The High Song · 1989

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Filmed largely in close-up, this documentary records a woman giving birth while her husband remains at her side. The camera concentrates on her face throughout labor, briefly revealing the moment of the child’s arrival before the newborn is placed in her arms.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis · 1975

MovieDocumentary

Philosophic reportage about work of pathoanatomist. Documentary version of Rembrandt’s «Anatomy Lesson».

Flashback

Flashback · 2003

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An autobiographical work from Herz Frank. Images guide us through the countries in which he worked, interspersed with fragments from his earlier films: births, autopsies, circumcisions, prisoners awaiting execution and other shocking themes.

The Last Judgement

The Last Judgement · 1987

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A man is facing a trial for murdering a Latvian union leader, which more likely than not will end with a death sentence. A close-up look at his emotional journey through the trial, imprisonment and beyond.

White Bells

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A little girl wanders all alone in the morning, through a bustling city, looking for the white bells she noticed in the window of a florist's shop. This film heralded the birth of a new film language in Latvian cinema. It received awards at the San Francisco and Oberhausen festivals. and was included on the list of the “world’s 100 best short films” by the film critics at the 1995 Clermont-Ferrand film festival.. All three of the film’s authors together with their peers became the creators of the legendary Riga School of Poetic Documentary.

Horse Play

Horse Play · 1973

MovieDocumentary

Reflections on human’s relationship with horses throughout the ages and their depiction in art are shown in parallel to the draft horse competition.

The Trace of the Soul

The Trace of the Soul · 1972

The Trace of the Soul

MovieDocumentary

A psychological portrait of kolkhos chairman Edgar Kaulin, who saved many Latvian farmers from deportations by the Soviets in the period 1945-53, and with them built up a kolkhos.

Year in Review

Year in Review · 1965

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Filmmakers of Riga poetic documentary school, Freimanis and Seleckis, were designated as the creative core for this documentary to be shot in honour of the 25th anniversary of the Soviet Latvia. The team was joined by the heavyweight poet Imants Ziedonis and Herz Frank as script writers. Instead of one of the old, merited, medal rattling ‘combat camera- men’, “Year in Review” is an unusually vivid and unique film for the time. The creative team were awarded the State Prize for the film.

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Restricted Area · 1975

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MovieDocumentary

The life of a 16 yearo-old convict through the Soviet penal system. The "restricted area" is a penal colony and Borstal, a "work camp" for delinquent children and young people. The film shows the contradictions in the notion of corrective education.

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The documentary is dedicated to the painful issues of the Holocaust and the Riga Ghetto.

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The Sentence Is Not Subject to Appeal · 1965

The Sentence Is Not Subject to Appeal

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Good Friday · 2005

MovieDocumentary

On the islet of Procida near Naples, Italy, the Mystery Procession commencing at dawn on Good Friday of each year, has been traditionally conducted by the “Turchini Fraternity” since 1627... The film captures portraits of Procida’s inhabitants during the procession and in effect reveals characteristics of the Italian people.

Perpetual Rehearsal

Perpetual Rehearsal · 2008

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In 1991, the Moscow director Yevgeny Aryeh, with a handful of emigrants from the USSR, founded the Gesher Theater in Israel, which means “bridge” in Hebrew. Bridge between people. Bridge between cultures. And now between art forms. After all, the film is a fusion of theater and documentary films, a bridge between their languages.

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